Global Positioning System (GPS)GPS uses satellites to compute positioning in 3D space, allowing automatic mapping and advanced navigation. The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite on October 4, 1957. Sputnik did nothing but send out radio pings audible on radio receivers on earth. Conveniently, they launched the satellite to fly over then arch-enemy the United States. As scientists … Continue reading "Global Positioning System (GPS)"
BakeliteBakelite enabled inexpensive mass production at very high tolerances where interchangeable parts matter (ex: telephones, radios, plugs, pens, wristbands, insulators, etc…). Also, it looked fun compared to organic materials in use before Bakelite. Baekeland’s Bakelite opened the “age of plastics.” It was moldable into any shape and, once molded, kept its shape. It did not … Continue reading "Bakelite"
Instant MessagingSending instant messages by computer is fun and convenient. Moreover, text chatting is asynchronous, unlike voice or video. Accordingly, people need not communicate in real-time. Surprisingly, text messaging became extremely popular. The earliest instant messaging system designed for that purpose was “Talkomatic” and “term-talk” for the PLATO system. College students David Wooley and Doug Brown … Continue reading "Instant Messaging"
Nuclear Aircraft CarrierNuclear aircraft carriers are enormous ships capable of traveling the world indefinitely. Indeed, the ships feature relatively large flight-decks capable of launching and landing fixed-wing aircraft, typically fighters. At 1,123 ft. (342 m.) the USS Enterprise is an enormous ship. In contrast, only oil supertankers are larger. The Enterprise supported 4,600 service members. First launched … Continue reading "Nuclear Aircraft Carrier"
Photography1816 Nicéphore Niépce The Niépce brothers were hell-bent on creating earth-shattering technology and they did so, twice. First, they created the internal combustion engine. Their native France was still adjusting its socioeconomic climate after the revolution so Claude went to England trying to commercialize the engine. During that time, Nicéphore invented photography. This brings us … Continue reading "Photography"
Aspirin1899 Arthur EichengrünFelix Hoffman Aspirin is often referred to as a miracle drug. The inexpensive medicine relieves pain without addiction, reduces fever, and even helps prevent heart attack. There is some evidence Aspirin even prevents cancer. Aspirin is the distilled and purified version of medicine known since ancient times. Hippocrates, he of the Hippocratic Oath, … Continue reading "Aspirin"
BroadcastingDavid Sarnoff David Sarnoff is the father of broadcasting. Sarnoff was a Jewish immigrant who became his family’s breadwinner at age 15. He worked as a Morse Code operator, rising up the ranks to become a supervisor. Eventually, he transitioned to radio to transmit messages over long distances. Early radio technology was for point-to-point communications, … Continue reading "Broadcasting"
MimeographMimeographs are essentially low-cost but low-quality and easy-to-use printing presses. They produced good-enough copies at a cost far lower than hand copying. Copies are produced from user-created stencils. Mimeographs remained the dominant form of document duplication for almost a century until photocopy machines became inexpensive and ubiquitous. For decades, mimeographs were the only way to … Continue reading "Mimeograph"
JukeboxThe Jukebox is an automated coin-operated music player which plays individual songs. The differentiating factor of the Jukebox from a simple coin-operated record player is the ability of an automated machine to replace live music in a restaurant or bar. Background Louis Glass and William Arnold modified Edison’s record players to operate by coins. These … Continue reading "Jukebox"
American Pop CultureIn the roaring ’20s, after WWI, Americans were coming into their own, developing a culture that was distinctly not European but also no longer a country of rugged settlers. Background At 26, Walt Disney was on the train to success, literally. Riding from his upstart studio in Los Angeles to New York to finalize and … Continue reading "American Pop Culture"
Water Frame Spinner / Modern FactoryRichard Arkwright’s Water Frame Spinner created factories that did not require highly skilled labor. Women and children, with no training, worked in factories that churned out low-cost good enough quality fabric at high volumes. This vastly lowered the cost of fabric. Arkwright was from a poor family: his father was a tailor. He improved on … Continue reading "Water Frame Spinner / Modern Factory"
DynamiteDynamite blows up otherwise difficult to move things, like boulders, mountains, and bedrock. It lowers the cost of removing rocks to make level land and tunnels, railroads, roads, and enables foundations for skyscrapers. In 1847 chemists Théophile-Jules Pelouze and Ascanio Sobrero had synthesized nitroglycerin but the chemical was unstable and difficult to harness. Nobel encased … Continue reading "Dynamite"
NylonNylon is a popular low-cost high-strength silk alternative. It vastly lowered the cost of producing silk-like fabric. Carothers started undergraduate school, at Tarkio College in Missouri, as an English major but switched to chemistry due to an influential professor. He excelled, working as an instructor during his undergraduate years. He went on to earn a … Continue reading "Nylon"
PlasticAs described in the post about rubber, Charles Goodyear created the vulcanization plastic making mass-market rubber possible. Goodyear’s durable rubber enabled an entire field of new products from tires to raincoats. However, rubber is both thick and spongy, giving it limited utility. Nobody is going to create a rubber telephone and a rubber water bottle … Continue reading "Plastic"
Fighter AircraftBackground In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the airplane. Other aircraft preceded theirs, lifted aloft by lighter-than-air elements, but the wright brothers smaller and faster airplane was a new breakthrough. People could fly like birds, except faster and higher. The Wright Brothers were furiously worried about their intellectual property being stolen. In hindsight, their … Continue reading "Fighter Aircraft"
